Paul Toboni and the Nationals have a clear offseason priority: find the bullpen’s alpha.
That was the missing piece in 2026, even with plenty of good things happening around the roster. The offense broke out, Cade Cavalli and Andrew Alvarez took steps forward, and the farm system looks strong. But when games got late, Washington’s relief corps kept turning promising nights into losses.
The numbers tell the story in brutal fashion. The Nationals finished with an all-time record 42 blown saves, setting the mark on September 8 when they blew their 38th save and never stopped there. It was a rough season in the highest-leverage moments, and the bullpen became the biggest reason.
At first glance, the unit’s ERA doesn’t look quite as disastrous as the blown-save total suggests. Washington’s bullpen posted a 4.99 ERA in 2026, an improvement over last year’s 5.59 mark, which was the worst in baseball. But the context matters: the offense handed the bullpen plenty of leads, and far too many of them vanished anyway.
George Lewis tracked every blown save for the Nationals on X, and the pattern was telling. A lot of those meltdowns didn’t even happen in the ninth inning. The chart painted a picture of a group that was shaky all over the late-game map, not just in one spot.
That’s why this winter feels so straightforward. Washington needs a reliever who can own the back end and stabilize everything around him.
The club can debate how much to spend, but the bullpen has to get a real chunk of the budget. Once a team finds that true headliner, the rest of the relief mix usually starts to fit better.
The Nationals can get there either by paying for one or by trading for one. Spencer Nusbaum wrote that there’s no guarantee the team lands a big bullpen name, but this is the area where a splash makes the most sense.
The goal shouldn’t be collecting bodies. It should be finding someone who can actually change the shape of the group.
Closing experience isn’t a must for me, but proven high-end production absolutely is. The dream target might not even have ninth-inning history.
Adrian Morejon would be a near-perfect fit, even if it feels like a long shot. He won’t turn 28 until February, and his stuff is as electric as it gets.
The market for him should be wild, so that’s not a name to count on.
David Bednar sits near the top of the market too. He’s already handled the pressure and has thrived as the Yankees closer. With his three-pitch mix, he brings the kind of profile that would make a statement if Mark Lerner and the front office decided to go big.
There are other names worth watching as well. Evan Phillips, Raisel Iglesias and Alex Vesia stand out as more realistic possibilities than the top-tier options, at least in my view.
Paul Toboni’s track record suggests he’s more comfortable piecing together a bullpen with waiver claims, development and smaller trades. That approach produced a few useful arms, but not a true late-inning answer. The Nationals found some depth, not a finisher.
That depth did show up over the final couple months, and several arms now give the group a better base than it had earlier in the year. Erik Tolman, Jack Sinclair, Will Dion, Orlando Ribalta, Yovanny Cruz, Riley Cornelio and Brad Lord all belong in the conversation. They just don’t look like ninth-inning solutions.
So the assignment is simple. If the Nationals want this bullpen to stop costing them games, Toboni has to chase impact at the top of the relief market and stop worrying so much about volume. Get the right arm in place, and this group could be in a much better spot by 2027.
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Nationals Giving One Sleeper Prospect A Big Chance To Rebound
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Mota is the kind of sleeper prospect the Fall League can be especially useful for, since Washington wants to keep building his reps after a season that was interrupted by injuries. The organization also shifted him to center field this year to tap into his athleticism, so the AFL should offer another important look at how that transition is coming along. [Read more 🡒]